Crisis in CAL deepens ahead of AGM

LUCKNOW: The ongoing ‘crisis’ in the Cricket Association Lucknow (CAL) seems to have deepened further as one of its former vice-presidents Divya Nautiyal on Tuesday questioned the legality of the sporting body ahead of its general body meeting on September 17.

Nautiyal has accused the CAL officials of ‘putting everyone in the dark’ by converting the cricketing body into a private limited company without consulting with the stakeholders.

“The company has six directors i.e. Madan Mohan Tuteja, Navneet Kumar Sehgal, Sujay Kumar Tripathi, Khaliq Mukhtar Khan, Rakesh Singh and Saad Rais and we aren’t aware about this,” said Nautiyal.

“Why everyone was put in the dark about this when the company was registered only on the 18th of last month?” he asked.

“There should have been proper discussion among all the stakeholders before deciding anything about CAL as a company,” he said, adding, “Most of the directors among the six don’t have international and domestic cricket experience, and non-inclusion of cricketers in the board of directors is injustice to the players.” Raising question about CAL’s proposed AGM on September 17, Nautiyal said that when CAL had been converted into a private limited company, there was no need of calling an AGM of the cricketing body.

CAL secretary KM Khan did not respond to repeated calls while joint secretary Gopal Singh, who is currently the acting secretary, said he had no knowledge about the CAL’s merger into a private limited company. “I have no knowledge of any such development. Even I was not consulted. Nobody discussed the issue with me,” he said. “CAL’s AGM will take place on its scheduled date and we will discuss the issue if it comes before us,” he added.

FINE BOWLING

Bowlers helped Abhijeet Sinha Cricket Academy (ASCA) beat Unity Cricket Club (UCC) by 25 runs in a league match of the 2nd PP Dua Memorial Cricket Tournament, at the Christian College ground here on Tuesday.

Shivam Yadav took three for three, whereas Jairam Shukla had three for 13 and Shashank Varma took two for six as UCC collapsed for 45 in 21.5 overs while chasing 71 to win in 30 overs.

Earlier, ASCA after having a shaky start, could make 70 in 22.3 overs while batting first after winning the toss. Aditya Yadav struck highest 22, which came off 31 balls with the help of two hits to the fence. Kaif took foru for 17, whereas Ambarish had three.